Race Synopsis:This is the last G1 of the season and was run a week later than usual and at a different track and direction but the winner was still the Australian bred Avantage and she paid just $1.40. This was a fillies and mares only event over a mile and drew a small field of eight runners. Avantage today was winning her ninth G1 and this season alone today was her fifth at this level hence the very short price. The winners and where they came from on the home turn were fourth (one-off the inside and two lengths from the leader), second (four-off the inside and a neck from the leader), led (one-off the inside and a neck in front), led, (one-off the inside and two lengths in front), led (one-off the inside and a length in front), led (two-off the inside and half a length from the leader), led (four-off the inside and a neck in front), seventh (eight-off the inside and four lengths from the leader) and fourth (eight-off the inside and half a length from the leader). To say today was a biased track is an understatement with a whopping five leaders on the home turn winning in nine races and one other turned for home second just a neck back. Te Rapa is the most biased on pace track in the whole of New Zealand, so not having tactical speed is a massive negative unless you are in a race where the leaders go silly or get their throats cut by ever sillier riders but even then some can still win. Te Rapa is extraordinary and stands alone in the whole of New Zealand and being so heavily sand-slitted too does not help the deserved moniker of the most biased track. Avantage loves this heavily biased track with four runs here for three wins and a fourth and the fourth came at G1 and the other three wins have come at G1 twice and G2 once. Today she sat outside the leader and took over at the 300m then held on to win by a neck and clocked 1:37.36, which is very tepid for a mile indeed even allowing for the Slow8 footing. The 5yo mare today was winning her sixteenth race from twenty-seven starts. Today was her ninth run in a row at G1 in New Zealand for five wins and four placings. She has raced four times in Australia for one G3 win on a bog and one placing at G2 on Slow footing as a 3yo filly against her own age group and two flops at G2 and G3 as a 4yo mare. Her year-older stablemate Melody Belle has her number but she it must be remembered has raced so far in Australia a staggering 14 times now for just two wins, a G2 juvenile on a bog and G1 but just against fillies and mares and it came on Slow ground. Avantage is just three wins behind Melody Belle for win tallies in total but both are the same in that neither has won a G1 outside of New Zealand where male runners were involved too. There was a deadheat for second behind Avantage today of Coventina Bay and Travelling Light, with the former running on hard from the rear on the inner and the latter fighting hard from fourth the outer. Both had their chance to run down Avantage but neither of them could quite do it. Fourth home was Levante that ran on well from the rear and was beaten just under a lengths and a half but she never ever looked a win hope settling that far back on a very biased track today. She will return as a 5yo mare nest season having not won at G1 yet and seems destined to not get one with three attempts yielding a third, a fourth and a fifth. Remember all here three G1 outings this season has seen the winner be Avantage and that mare is racing on next season too. Siracusa was next home but got beaten over three lengths after racing fifth or sixth mostly then coming up fourth turning for home and she ran as good as her rating suggested. The rest got beaten almost eight lengths and as far as over ten lengths and were outclassed.